Linda Neville papers

Abstract

These papers represent the life and work of Linda Neville, whose vocation was the welfare of children and the prevention of blindness in Kentucky. Papers include such materials as financial and business records, patient case records, correspondence, publications, news clippings, personal memorabilia, and photographs.

Collection Overview

Biography / History

Born on April 23, 1873 in Lexington, Kentucky, Linda Neville devoted much of her life to the welfare of children and the prevention of blindness in Kentucky.

Her father, John Henry Neville, was a professor of Greek and Latin at Kentucky University (now Transylvania University) and later at the University of Kentucky. Her mother, Mary Payne, was from a prominent Lexington family. She had one sister, Mary.

Neville received a bachelor's degree in Greek and Latin from Bryn Mawr College in 1895, then returned to Lexington where she taught children out of her home and devoted much of her time to charity and juvenile court boards. This time marked the beginning of Neville's civic work, with her joining such organizations as the Gleaners of Christ Church Episcopal, the Lexington Civic League, the Associated Charities, and the Women's Christian Temperence Union. Neville also actively participated in the Fayette County women's suffrage movement.

In the summer of 1908, Neville accepted an invitation from her friend and fellow Lexington native Katherine Pettit to visit the Hindman Settlement School, located in the eastern Kentucky mountains of Knott County. While there, she witnessed many people with sight-related problems and learned of the prevalence of trachoma, a highly contagious form of conjunctivitis and a major cause of blindness in eastern Kentucky. Neville made it her priority to help these people, bringing back with her on that first trip the first of many patients to come to Lexington for medical treatment.

Neville often personally subsidized these patients and even opened her home to them while they received treatment in Lexington. In 1908, Neville established the Mountain Fund which enabled her to accept donations from family and friends to support the cause. The Fund enabled certain pupils of the Hindman Settlement School, as well as other eastern Kentuckians, to travel to Lexington and Louisville in order to receive care for their various ailments. Although the fund never exceeded more than $1000 in a year, donations in the form of clothing, transportation, and other gifts were also received. Moreover, Neville convinced several hospitals and physicians in Lexington and Louisville to provide free or discounted treatment for the Mountain Fund patients.

In cooperation with private practice oculists, Neville also helped set up trachoma clinics around the Kentucky mountains. Many of the people who visited these clinics, in need of long-term hospital care and too impoverished to pay for it themselves, eventually became Mountain Fund patients. The addition of financial support from the United States Public Health Service in 1915, along with administrative support from the American Red Cross, enabled the Mountain Fund to extend its coverage to patients outside of the mountains, as well as expand its work to include needy crippled children. This work continued until the formation of the Kentucky Crippled Children's Commission in 1924. The last trachoma clinic was held in 1924 when it was replaced by the establishment of county health services.

In addition to her work with trachoma, Neville helped to maintain several venereal clinics throughout Kentucky with the hope of reducing the number of newborns with eye problems caused by gonorrhea and syphilis. The number of babies born with these ailments significantly decreased as a result.

In 1910, Neville founded the Kentucky Society for the Prevention of Blindness and became Executive Secretary. In conjunction with her work, she helped draft laws and lobbied successfully for legislation which struck at the causes of blindness. The first such law was the Opthalmia-Trachoma Reporting Law which required that all newborn babies with diseased eyes be reported to local boards of health. It also carried a provision for the instruction of midwives on the prevention of eye diseases.

Among her other activities, Neville was a Field Representative for the American Red Cross from 1919 to 1924, was a member of the Kentucky Child Welfare Commission, served on the State Board of Charities and Corrections from 1924-1928 (which later became the Department of Welfare), and served for many years as a consultant to the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness. She also organized a nationwide network of health reformers with whom she consulted over the years.

Linda Neville received much recognition for her work towards the prevention of blindness. Most notably, the St. Louis Society for the Blind awarded her with the Leslie Dana Gold Medal in 1944.

Neville adopted two children whom she met as a result of her work, David Neville Devary and Joanna Pennington.

Linda Neville died on June 2, 1961 and is buried in the Lexington Cemetery.

Scope and Content

Biographical materials in this collection, ranging from 1783-1961, include sketches of Neville's life, her daily activity logs, news clippings, and personal keepsakes. Also present are the papers of several of Neville's relatives, including correspondence, business records, financial materials, and personal effects. Linda Neville's correspondence ranges from 1879 to 1959 and documents her relationship with such organizations as the Red Cross, the Kentucky State Board of Health, the Kentucky Society for the Prevention of Blindness, and the Kentucky State Board of Charities and Corrections. There is also correspondence with other Lexington, Kentucky reformers, including Katherine Pettit of the Hindman Settlement School, Mary Breckinridge of the Frontier Nursing Service, and Mrs. Desha (Madge) Breckinridge, who was active in Lexington's women's suffrage movement. Financial materials include cancelled checks, bank statements, bills, deposit slips, and tax bills covering Neville's personal expenses during 1909-1958. Financial materials are also included for the Mountain Fund, the account Neville created in order to keep track of donations given to help needy eye patients, and contain bills received for services rendered to patients, as well as bills reflecting its daily operations. Patient files range from 1908-1958 and include the case records of individuals who applied to the Mountain Fund for medical assistance. Publications present within this collection include journals, newsletters, reviews, pamphlets, bulletins, reports, books, and legislation, mostly relating to blindness, trachoma, syphilis, prison reform, and social welfare reform. Subject files include materials representing Neville's various interests and reform efforts.

A collection of photographs (PA61M158) also exists for this collection, portraying people and events from Neville's personal and professional life.

Restrictions on Access and Use

Conditions Governing Access

Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open to researchers by appointment.Some materials in this collection have been restricted due to the presence of personal identifying information.Records in Boxes 103-105 and 117-160 are restricted through the year 2038 as follows:1. Materials are accessible only with the permission of the appropriate curator or archivist.2. Researchers must complete a manuscript restrictions form before access will be granted.3. These materials may not be photocopied, microfilmed, digitized, or reproduced in any manner.

Use Restrictions

Property rights reside with the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact Special Collections.

Wellington Payne (1835-1899), 1872-1873, undated

Correspondence, undated

Copies of business letters sent, 1872-1873

Emma Williams Payne, 1909-1912

Unsure of lineage, but was married to a Justice of the Peace in Lexington, KY, J.B. Payne (who is not the above-mentioned John Breckinridge Payne). J.B. Payne died in 1909 and is buried in the Lexington cemetery.

Other pamphlets, undated

In Kentucky [poem], James H. Mulligan, undated

Correspondence and papers, 1879-1959, undated

This series covers the years from 1879 to 1959 and includes correspondence from Linda Neville's private and public life as a social reformer. Included is correspondence relating to the Kentucky State Board of Health, Associated Charities of Lexington, WCTU Settlement School (Hindman, KY), Kentucky Society for the Prevention of Blindness, the Red Cross, Kentucky Department of Health, Kentucky Board of Charities and Corrections, Kentucky Board of Parole and Corrections, Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, Lexington Good Samaritan Hospital, Louisville Children's Free Hospital, Louisville Jewish Hospital, Temperance League of Kentucky, and the National Civil Service Reform League. Also, there is correspondence with Katherine Pettit of the Hindman Settlement School, Mrs. Desha "Madge" Breckinridge, an active member of the Kentucky Suffrage Movement, and Mary Breckinridge of the Frontier Nursing Service.

1958 May

1958 June-December

1959 January

undated

undated

undated

Financial materials, 1909-1958, undated

These files include primarily cancelled checks, bank statements, bills, deposit slips, and tax bills covering personal expenses during the period from 1909 to 1958. These records indicate that Linda Neville owned rental property, the locations of which are noted on the property tax bills and receipts. These records also reveal that Linda Neville sporadically kept records of her receipts of rent payment by tenants for 1930-1933 (Box 81, Folder 1) and 1935 (Box 83, Folder 5). Other items related to her real estate holdings are a 1931 insurance policy on her Vine Street property (Box 81, Folder 8), and an assessment of the 1926 fire damage to the same property (Box 80, Folder 9).
Organizations and charities to which Neville paid dues and made contributions can be determined by perusing the cancelled checks. In Box 89 the miscellaneous financial records include legal documents detailing a 1935 property lawsuit in which Neville was plaintiff. Prominent among the later financial documents, especially during the late 1950s, are checks written for David Neville Devary, Neville's adopted son.

Plan of Property to be Decided by Linda Neville by the City of Lexington, undated

Storm and Sewer Easement, 1933-1934

Walter Tuttle vs Linda Neville, 1935

Mountain financial materials, 1904-1958

The Mountain Fund Financial Records cover the years 1909-1958. Included are bills received by the Mountain Fund for services rendered to patients from, for example, Tinder-Krauss Opticians, Good Samaritan and St. Josephs Hospitals (both located in Lexington), pharmacies, and private practitioners, including optometrists. Also included is correspondence to governmental agencies from Linda Neville requesting financial assistance for various patients in her charge, as well as cancelled checks, logs, and correspondence relating to donations to the Mountain Fund from private citizens. Other items include bills and services reflecting the daily operation of the Mountain Fund.